Overview of current radar land mine detection research at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Salisbury, South Australia

This paper describes the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation's (DSTO) efforts in buried land mine detection by ultra wide band (UWB) radar technology. Detection of low-metallic content land mines with reduced probability of false detection is a high priority. Emphasis is on the development of a hand-held system for demining operations, Vehicle-mounted land mine warning systems are also being investigated. An effective hand-held system is likely to combine a ground probing radar (GPR) with a metal detector. An initial version of such a system could be a cheap, light-weight GPR attachment for current mine detectors. This work is also being extended to cover close-in vehicle-mounted systems for road clearance. Experimental work has commenced on stand-off UWB radar systems for vehicle-mounted anti-vehicle mine warning systems. The current thrust is in the application of 1 to 3 GHz bandwidth impulse radar systems. Later development will include integrated multiple-sensor systems incorporating automated target recognition and sensor fusion.